Breakfast in the Skook decided to do a Brunch Special today at the Crimson House in downtown Pottsville. We arrived promptly at 10:00 a.m. to an almost empty restaurant. The four of us (Bryan, Matt, Mike and Tonto) ended up sitting in a booth, one of only two in the entire restaurant.
The brunch menu at the Crimson House isn’t very large, with only eight items to choose from. We loved the idea of their Build-Your-Own Bloody Mary bar. Bryan and Mike both ordered one, while Tonto ordered multiple. As for food, Bryan ended up ordering the “Crimson Chicken and Waffles” meal. This consisted of homemade red velvet waffles with panko breaded fried chicken, maple butter, and fresh maple whipped cream. Matt ordered the “Crimson Breakfast Tacos” meal. This included corn tortillas filled with refried black beans, scrambled eggs, chorizo, potato hash, and cheddar cheese topped with chipotle cream. Mike went with the “‘Crimson Benedict” meal, which was comprised of homemade grilled corn and cauliflower bread topped with grilled tomatoes, scrambled eggs, and hollandaise sauce finished with crispy Brussel Sprouts. The Mighty Tonto ended up getting the “Crimson Coddled Eggs”. This meal included four mini mason jars filled with coddled eggs, tomato, bacon jam, and crab meat.
Establishment: 5/5 – A clean restaurant with a cool atmosphere. Some walls were stripped, exposing the brick, which was pretty neat. The only downside here could be that it is very narrow. The interior had two booths, and two longer tables in the back. The rest of the restaurant included some smaller, two-seated tables and the bar.
Service: 5/5 – We had a pitcher of water waiting for us at our table when we arrived. Our waitress was very nice and the bartender concocted our Bloody Marys in a timely fashion. Our wait for the food only lasted 14-minutes. Everyone was very friendly. The cook even came out and asked us if we were enjoying our meals.
Appearance: 5/5 – Our meals were very picturesque. The Crimson House is known for their smaller plates, so we weren’t surprised by the amount of food that was served.
Taste: 4/5 – Our food was fresh and tasted very good. Bryan really enjoyed his chicken and waffles meal. Matt enjoyed his breakfast tacos and woofed them down rather quickly. Mike liked his Benedict, but didn’t think it was very hot. No complaints from Tonto. He was a fan of the coddled eggs, and especially the Bloody Marys. Tonto ordered a jalapeno to go with his Bloody Mary and was pleasantly surprised by the size and girth of the pepper! He didn’t hesitate and bit right into it like an apple!
Bloody Mary: 5/5 – Very good! It was awesome to be able to create our own with whatever ingredients we wanted. All we had to do was circle the items we wanted to include in our drink. All three of our Bloody Marys were spicy and delicious! This was probably the best Bloody Mary we’ve tasted so far, trumping the ones from Coney Island and Mountain Valley.
Price: 1/5 – You’ll find above-average prices here at the Crimson House. The quality of the food was very good, but like I said before, you don’t get much when it comes to quantity.
Although it wasn’t very filling, the Crimson House provided us with a very unique breakfast experience. It wouldn’t be fair to compare this with the other breakfast spots we’ve been to, since the menu is so different. We’d suggest coming here for brunch if you want some quality food accompanied with adult beverages. Their brunch is served every Sunday beginning at 10 a.m.
Have a breakfast spot for us to visit? Email us your comments or suggestions at schuylkillbreakfast@gmail.com. You can also follow us on Twitter: @SkookBreakfast.
Breakfast in the Skook 